Good afternoon- We (my son and I) are delving into the field of motorcamping and looking for some advice and suggestions as to what might be a good stove to use. Im looking for something pre WW2, 20's would be great. This isn's a "want" ad but simply looking for advice so I can find something and not overpay.
I'll give you the same advice I gave my friend who was about to set off on a 3000 mile motorcycle trek from California to Alaska's north slope: get a stove that can run on gasoline. Not that you would necessarily need to - and you probably wouldn't want to stand down wind from it when it's running - but it's nice to know you can if you run out of white gas. The reverse is also true: I've dumped the remains of my white gas into the rental car's fuel tank many a time at the end of a trip. Having said that, there are tons of options - I take it weight isn't probably a concern. MSRs come to mind.
A nice vintage Coleman would be great, many still be around, easily fettled, parts available on many. Eprey might bring one up. Check for rust in the tank. Duane
Pre WW2, I'd look at Prentiess Wabers Auto Kook-Kit stoves. 20's would be AGM KampKook stoves, along with Coleman stoves for both eras. As Duane said, parts are still available for most Coleman stoves. Bear in mind that many of the earlier stoves require a separate pump.
Gas is the prefered fuel. This is a picture from our first motor camp where I used what I could from our 1700's rendezvous stuff. We try to find authentic clothes, cars, camp ect.
imo the best is A Drew & Sons En Route picnic set - Google Search or Sirram tea set with ie Réchaud ancien en fonte émaillée,cuisine d'autrefois,décoration,1930 | eBay
@Swab same advice as PWdolkas : get a stove that can burn fuel you can buy almost anywhere! Gasoline is almost everywhere. Ideal fuel would be diesel but only a handfull of stoves can really burn that . Like british army no.12 and that stove I found out is not easy to find in a decent shape! One curiosity: why do you want a stove THAT old? I bought and used until some time ago a Shmel-2 CCCP era stove that burns gasoline. Was very impressed with it until I found a topic here where a brass stove with the fuel tank under the burner simply exploded in the face of that user due to a defect. Since the Shmel fuel tank is about 700 ml of gasoline I got scared of it... I had the left hand on fire due to gasoline and my fault. Can't imagine 700ml of gasoline on me on fire... Ideal stove should burn gasoline as you find in any gas station but the fuel tank must be far from the burner. For your safety. Only Optimus Nova does this well. Cheers!
I love my 1920s Prentiss-Wabers 2-burner and often use it camping. I would try to avoid using automotive gasoline in these stoves. They have additives that were not present in 1920s auto gasoline and will sooner or later crud up the generator on your stove. The generators can be disassembled and cleaned, but why would you want to do that on a camping trip? Coleman Fuel (or its equivalent) is the closest thing available to 1920s auto fuel. ....Arch
Great picture. I often think of doing a trip with period camping gear with our 1948 DeSoto but SWMBO would have no part of it.
This is an old Buick, I traded a blunderbuss I built from scratch for it and got it running. She still needs a lot of work but what a great car so long as you aren't in a hurry. This summer I hope to put a couple thousand miles on her camping throughout. Guys like me are lucky, if you know how to work on things and are looking to have fun rather than build a show car they can be a lot of fun and affordable.
Thanks everyone for your interest. I have a similar cot, unfortunately I let my Mom use it at the last rendezvous and it came back torn without my ever getting to use it. I have been able to find a stove and it should be in the mail shortly so I will have time to go thru it and get it in good operating order before summer arrives. For those interested it's a prentiss waber model 8 which should work perfect for the time period.
Completely agree with @ArchMc that auto fuel will eventually crud up the insides of a generator tube, so only do it if you have to. But having said that, I think this is one of the benefits of the burner-plate-only style of gas stoves - without the tube you can burn auto gas with relative impunity. Just don't get anywhere near the exhaust, 'cause it's really nasty. p.s. Love the car!
Here is an article that fits perfectly with your enthusiasm: 1920’s AGM KampKook Stove He also has a youtube channel that has him lighting up the stove. I think what you are doing is great. Though I think you should use Coleman fuel as well. It is safer than pump gas. Have fun. Joseph
Intention is to use regular coleman fuel and have a tank on the car, probably 2-3 gallon with a petcock on the bottom for refuelling stove/lamps.
